Bias sisal buff



June 23, 1953 J. R. DAVIES ans SISAL BUFF Filed Feb. 24. 1950' mmvron cfosgp 23202265 Patented June 23, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BIAS SISAL BUFF Joseph R4 Davies, Chicago, Ill. Application February 24, 1950, Serial No. 146,049

12 Claims. (Cl. 51-193) This invention relates to a bias burlap buff and to a method of making it. There is also disclosed a machine for making a bias buff.

A bias buff is one in which the threads forming the woof and the warp of the fabric sheets intercept the entire circular peripheral edge at acute angles, approximately 45 degrees. One type of bias buff is made by wrapping a strip of cloth around a. cylindrical drum having a central, annular deep channel. When thedesired number of layers of cloth have been wrapped around the drum and spanning the channel, a wire is wrapped around the layers adjacent the channel. The wire is then tightened so as to draw the cloth into the channel and thereby turn its surfaces at substantially right angles. The tightening wire is replaced by a ring and stitching holds the elements in permanent assembled relationship. Near the hub, the cloth is, of course, gathered in folds and these folds diminish as the periphery is approached. In these buffs, the layers of fabric are not stitched to each other excepting at th center where they are fastened to a cardboard hub. The cloth is quite flappy. The advantage of this bias buff over the buffs in which the layers of fabric are flat resides not only in the fact that the buff has longer life because the yarn is less easily unraveled, but also because the gatherings of the cloth provide better ventilation and reduce overheating. Also, all strands pass underneath the retaining ring and are held permanently in the buff.

Applicant has specialized in the manufacture of bufis employing a plurality of fabric layers in conjunction with a plurality of much coarser layers of burlap in accordance with his United States Patent No. 2,134,676. The burlap may be made of sisal, a product of Caribbean countries,

Or of jute from the East Indies, and less commonly of hemp. Fibers from these products are much tougher and have more structural strength than does cotton or flax. Theyhave a longer life because they seem to be able to resist the action of th bufiing compound which, of course, acts not only on the metal to be worked but upon the bufi that carries it. Woven sisal and jute are commonly available in the woven, fabric form used for burlap bags. In this form, the threads of either the woof or the warp vary from a circular cross section to a flat cross section, the former having a diameter of perhaps one-sixteenth of an inch and the latter having a width of as much as three-sixteenths of an inch.

The general object of this invention is to make a bias sisal buff. The bias sisal bufi will have the but where the work has a non-cylindrical shape r 2 same advantages over an ordinary sisal buff that a bias cloth buff has over an ordinary buff-and it will haveone more advantage. In the ordinary sisal buff, particularly where a plurality of them are made up into a. wheel, the peripheral density of the sisal fibers is not consistent transversely of the bufiing surface. Thus, assuming a wheel two inches long, made up of a plurality of bufis one-fourth inchthick, no matter how hard the buffs are'pressed together from the sides, the stitching and the muslin layers, which mark the outer wallof each buff, creates a circumferential line where th sisal density is low." Along each of these lines, thatis, the space between each of the buffs, the bufling compound will be held differently from the wayit is held where the sisal fibers are more dense, and fewer of the sisal fibers will engage the work. Where the wheel and the piece being worked have a cylindrical surface, streaking may be avoided by moving either the wheel or the buff axially of the other,

and the buff has been cut to conform to that shape, such axial movements are impossible and streaking occurs. The sisal layers in the bias sisal buiteven when several are combined, do not lie in planes normal to the buifs axis but are wavy due to the folds or pleats, with the result that the bias sisal buff is able to finish an article without streaks and irrespective of the article's shape.

The first specific object of this invention is to provide a bias sisal buff inwhich the woven sisal will not unravel during use. The bias muslin buff is so closely woven that the threads are not separated by centrifugal force. hand, is so loosely woven that centrifugal force will separate. the woof from the warp so that the periphery of the buff becomes a mass of loose strands that will, not hold or properly apply bufiing compound. Applicant attains this end by transversely stitching the sisal layers commencing at the perimeter and. working inwardly, and preferably stitching the sisal layers between muslin layers. The muslin is important not only for providing a superior base for the stitching, but because it tends to keep the stitching from unraveling as the cutting atthe circumferencev works inwardly and progressively cuts stitches.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attainedin the embodiments of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings wherein: I I

Fig. 1 is a face view of a strip of woven sisal fabric cut on the bias;

Sisal, on the other Fig. 2 is a face view of a bias sisal swatch having several layers of Woven sisal cut on the bias with edge strips of muslin sewed thereto;

Fig. 3 is a View taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, somewhat schematic and partly exploded, of applicants improved bias buff winding drum showing a removable spider core and a bias sisal swatch being fed onto the drum;

Fig. 5 is a view showing the completion of ap-' plicants first step in shaping a bias sisal buff;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view taken immediately prior to the insertion of the ring in the buff Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the two drums separated from the core with the spiders retracted;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of 9. buff taken on the line 88 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a finished bias teenths of an inch. This is-a very coursefabric.

The number of warp and woof threads per inch being eight to ten.

Sisal is a fiber which has the botanical name of Agav sisalina. It isfound in Caribbean countries and Java. Each thread of. sisal is made up of twenty to thirty sisal strands whose cross sections vary greatly inv size and shape. commonly used in this country to make burlap bags. Hemp and jute are also tough fibers which are frequently used in burlap bags andfor purposes where great strength-is wanted ata minimum cost. In this specification, the word burlap is used to define any fabric, whether it is made of sisal, jute or hemp, or anyother product, in which the threads that have beenwoven'into the fabric are very course and in. which the threads are formed of a very stiff fiber, particularly one that is little affected by water or oils, as contrasted with a cotton fiber.

Returning to Fig. 1, applicants swatch for a buff having four circumferential courses with an outside diameter of approximately sixteen inches, is about eleven inches wide and. 100 inches.

long. Applicant superimposes two such. swatches on each other and. then applies four'strips of trade to describe the life of the buff) was low.

Where several buffs were mounted on a shaft to form a wheel, the stitching thread at the-side of each buff was exposed to the sisal fibers of the adjacent buff, and these fibers have a cutting action which quickly severs the softer cotton thread. Where muslin panels are used, the thread of one buff is rubbed only by the thread of the muslin panel or an adjacent buff. As hereto..-

fore explained, stitchingis essential in any burlap buff because coarse fiber buffs quickly un ravel, that is, they cease to bewoven, andthe moment that occurs, the periphery of thebuif Sisal isconsists of fiber end unrelated to each other and incapable of satisfactorily holding bufling compound.

The muslin panels 20 and 22 are shown cut on the bias which is a minor feature as the muslin contributes little to the bufiing.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the numeral 30 identifies a split drum which consists of drum 32, see Fig. '7, spacer core 34, and drum 36. The spacer core 34 may be'permanently fastened to 32 and the drums 32 and 36 and spacer core 34 may be associated with the shaft 38 in many different ways. These elements have been employed for years in the art. The assembled swatch indicated by the numeral 40 is placed on the drum and wrapped around it. When the wrapping is completed, a wire, 42, see Fig. 5, is wrapped around the swatch 40 and is pulled in the directions 44 and 46, thereby drawing the swatch 40 along its median line into the slot 48 toward the core 34. The machine for pulling the wire 42 is not shown as it is old in the art. As the pulling progresses, it will draw the swatch 40 into a substantially flat surface at right angles to the axis of the drum 30, and of necessity this will result in pleats in the swatch which pleats are heaviest closest to the core 34..

Applicants new method steps are employed at this point. Referring to Fig. 5, the wire 42 does not constrict evenly under the forces 44 and 46, bywhich is meant that the wire indicated by the dotted. line 50 is not a steadily contracting circle but initially is a flattened oval which ultimately becomes a circle around the core 34. In moving from an oval to a circle, however, this wire unevenly pleats the swatch 40.

It should be understood. that the steps described up to this moment of the actual forming over the drum 30 are identical with those presently used in forming. a bias type muslin buff. Muslin being a great dealsofter, more pliable and more flexible than sisal fiber, adjusts itself more readily to the action of the wire 42v and results in a pleating around the core 34 which is fairly even although not entirely so. However, the unevenness. is not sufficient to appreciably unbalance the buff. When applicant followed this same pro in making a sisal buff, the uneven pleating at the center was so pronounced that the buff was unbalanced and not usable at high speeds.

Returning now to Figs. 4 and 5, applicant D O- vides an outer spider 52 and an inner spider 54. Each spider consists of a ring 56. from one side of which extend a plurality of prongs 58. These prongs seat in a ring of holes 6!! which extend through the drum 36 across the channel or space 48 into the drum 32. When applicant has drawn the wire 42 to a point where it is tight around the prongs 58 of the spider 52, he withdraws the spider 56. This releases the portion of the swatch between the wire 42 and the prongs 58 and the partially formed pleats tend to equalize themselves. Thereupon, the wire 42 is further tightened around the smaller spider 54. When this tightening has been completed, the spider 54 is withdrawn and the wire 42 is drawn tight around the core 34.

From this point, established practice continues. The drum 36 is removed and then the right-hand side of the swatch is squeezed down as indicated at 62 so that a ring 64' may be slipped over it and over the hub 34. When this ring is in position, the tightening wire 42 is releasedand the righthand side of the swatch is again flared outwardly so as to form a disk buff. Commonly in this type bf buff, a core made of metal or cardboard is i serted where the permanent core 34 had'been and is fastened to the buff by means'of disk thicknesses of bufling material wherein a thick.

ness consists of two layers of sisal'flanked on each side by a layer of muslin. The cross section is illustrated in Fig. 8. i

In Figs. and 11, there, is illustrated an experimental structure whichwill serve to bring out a very important point about bias type buffs. It will be noted in Fig. 8 that all 'o'fthe heavy sisal fiberspassover the ring 64, andv consequently none escapes from the buff unless they slip under the ring. However, this advantage results in the heavy pleating at point 66, something thatcannot be adequately appreciated from the illustration in Fig. 8. Referring toFig. 9, if one presses all of the thicknesses at the circumference together as tightly as possible, they are about an inch thick, and in the absence of seeing such a buff, it will be realized that the thickness will be substantially greater at the ring 64' withthe result that when several of these buffs are combined into a wheel, the extrathickness at the hub does not permit the desired density at the periphery. Subject to this deficiency, the construc I nuluses.

substantially flat without pleats, and stitches of thread through'the annuluses and closely spaced from each other along the surface of'the an- 3. A buff section comprising a threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery and Whose 4 mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so that the" woven material lies substantially flat without' pleats, an annulus of more finely woven cloth registered on said first annulus, andstitches of thread through said annuluses and closely-spaced from "each other along the surface of the annuluses.

they are prevented from seriously changing their angular relationship to the circumferential edge of the buff by means of the muslin panels 20 and stitching. 7

Referring now to Fig. 10, two strips of sisal fabric '10 and 12 are spaced by folded strips of sisal fabric 14 and 16. In the manner heretofore described, panels of muslin such as 18 and 8| are stitched to the surfaces by stitching 82. Upon being assembled as heretofore described, a section of it will form the shape illustrated in cross section in Fig. 11 and it will be noted that only the two outer layers of the sisal actually go under the ring 64. The result is that substantially the same thickness of buff is provided at the surface '4. A buff section comprising a flat'an'nulus of,

coarsely woven material whose Woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery and whose mesh are reshapedand increasingly.

smaller toward the innerperiphery so that the woven materiallies substantially fiat withoutpleatsfanannulus formed of more finely woven substantially flat and registeredon the more coarsely woven annulus, and closely spaced means holding the reshaped coarser-woven an nulus to the cloth annulus; I

5. A buif sectioncomprising a plurality of flat annuluses of coarsely woven material'whose woofand warp threads are substantially the same in number at theinner peripheries as at'the outer peripheries and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner peripheries so that the woven material lies substantially flat without pleats, annuluses of cloth registered and positioned between selected annuluses of the more coarsely woven material, and stitches of thread through the annuluses and closely spaced from each other along the surfaces of theanwith less sisal at the ring 64 to be crushed into pleats. This will have some advantage in those situations where a plurality of buffs are mounted on a shaft side by side and pressed together to buff some item having a substantial width.

Having thus described applicants invention, what is claimed is:

l. A buff section comprising a flat annulus of woven material whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery of the annulus and whose mesh are reshaped and Increasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so that the woven material lies substantially flat without pleats, and means for holding the woof and warp threads in said reshaped position.

2. A buff section comprising a plurality of flat annuluses of woven material whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner peripheries as at the outer peripheries of the annuluses and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner peripheries so that the woven material lies nuluses.

6'. A buff section comprising a plurality of flat annuluses of burlap whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner peripheries as at the outer peripheries and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner peripheries so that the burlap lies substantially flat without pleats, and stitches of thread through the annuluses and closely spaced from each other in all directions along the surfaces of the annuluses.

7. A bull section comprising a plurality of flat annuluses of burlap whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner peripheries as at the outer peripheries and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner peripheries so that the burlap lies substantially flat without pleats, annuluses of cloth registered between annuluses of the coarser woven material, and stitches of thread through the annuluses and closely spaced from each other along the surfaces of the annuluses.

' 8. A bufling section comprising a spiral of flat annulus of" coarsely-woven'material whose woof an'dwarp 9. A'buif sectioncomprising a plurality of nest.--

ingspirals of woven material whose surfaces are substantially normal to the spirals axis, one of said spirals being formed of reshaped coarsely woven material whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at'the inner.

periphery as at the outer periphery of the spiral and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so that the woven material lies substantially flat without pleats, another of said spirals being formed of more finely woven cloth, and stitches of thread through the layers of the spiral along-the'surface thereof.

10. A buff section comprising a spiral of woven material folded outwardly along the inner p6- riphery of the spiral with the surface substantially normal to the spirals axis and whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery and whose mesh are reshaped and in creasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so thatthe woven material lies substantially flat without pleats, and stitches joining thetwo folded layers of the spiral.

11. A bull section comprising a spiral of coarser woven material folded outwardly along the inner periphery of the spiral with the surface substantially normal to the spirals axis and whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery'and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so that the woven material lies substantially fiat without pleats, a spiral of more finely woven cloth nested in the first spiral, and stitches join- 8 ing' the cloth layer to its associated layer of coarser woven material.

12. A buif section comprising a spiral of burlap whose surface is substantially normal to the spirals axis and whose woof and warp threads are substantially the same in number at the inner periphery as at the outer periphery and whose mesh are reshaped and increasingly smaller toward the inner periphery so that the burlap lies substantially fiat without pleats, a spiral of cloth nested and registered in the spiral of burlap; and stitches of thread joining the spiral of cloth to the adjacent spiral of burlap.

-' JOSEPH R. DAVIES.

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